Re: Printing: Slow access to PaperSize - C# Discussion Boards

IWannaTalk13-Sep-10 3:02

IWannaTalk

13-Sep-10 3:02

thanks, but i need multi-column control... so, listbox will not be helpfull

ISQ 469907496

Luc Pattyn13-Sep-10 3:10

13-Sep-10 3:10

again, OwnerDrawn allows for lots of formatting. I've done columnar output with ListBox. You can make it look like a DataGridView (without the column sort facilities).

Smile | :)

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IWannaTalk13-Sep-10 21:48

IWannaTalk

13-Sep-10 21:48

ok, i'll try, but i'm really not sure that this implementation will be faster than listview virtual mode...

ISQ 469907496

Luc Pattyn13-Sep-10 23:44

Printing: Slow access to PaperSize

13-Sep-10 23:44

whatever control you choose, performance will depend very much on how you use it. If your control is large, and you are adding/updating/scrolling it all the time, then those actions will end up consuming almost all available CPU cycles. You may want to look at:
- SuspendLayout/ResumeLayout
- AddRange
- only updating TopIndex at regular intervals (say with a 1-second periodic timer).

Smile | :)

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Creating a p7m file.

shadowzz12345613-Sep-10 1:08

shadowzz123456

13-Sep-10 1:08

Hello.

In the project i am working on i am face these days with the task of creating a p7m file.
I have at my disposal the following :
- Public key Certificate in Base64
- Signature in Base64
- The file in byte array.

I cannot seem to find a way to create a p7m file with a already existing signature.

Could i please get some help if anyone bumped into this issue ?

OriginalGriff12-Sep-10 23:57

OriginalGriff

12-Sep-10 23:57

I have been doing some playing with a generic print class to add header/footer/lefter/righter support, so have been implementing my own print preview. But for some reason, it seemed really sluggish. When I switch orientation from Landscape to Portrait, it could take a noticeable time - maybe half a second, or more. So, I filled the routine with Stopwatch tests, and got some odd results. Create a new C# Winforms project and drop a button on, hook up this code:

using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Drawing.Printing;
using System.Diagnostics;

namespace PrintTest
    {
    public partial class Form1 : Form
        {
        public Form1()
            {
            InitializeComponent();
            TimeIt();
            }

        private static void TimeIt()
            {
            PrintDocument pd = new PrintDocument();
            Stopwatch sw = new Stopwatch();
            TimeSpan ts1 = new TimeSpan(0);
            TimeSpan ts2 = new TimeSpan(0);
            TimeSpan ts3 = new TimeSpan(0);
            sw.Start();
            int Width;
            PageSettings pageSettings = pd.DefaultPageSettings;
            ts1 = sw.Elapsed;
            PaperSize ps = pageSettings.PaperSize;
            ts2 = sw.Elapsed;
            Width = ps.Width;
            ts3 = sw.Elapsed;
            sw.Stop();
            MessageBox.Show(sw.Elapsed +
                            "\n   ts1: " + ts1 +
                            "\n   ts2: " + ts2 +
                            "\n   ts3: " + ts3);
            }

        private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
            {
            TimeIt();
            }
        }
    }

The first time the message appears, it is slow as I expect - assemblies loading, etc. But it remains consistant after that.
I get numbers such as:

00:00:00.2231302
   ts1: 00:00:00.0000010
   ts2: 00:00:00.2231289
   ts3: 00:00:00.2231297

Which means that this line of code takes 0.2 seconds:

PaperSize ps = pageSettings.PaperSize;

And testing show that it is 0.2 seconds each and every time you use it. So if your code looks like:

Width = page.Document.DefaultPageSettings.PaperSize.Width;
Height = page.Document.DefaultPageSettings.PaperSize.Height;

That takes 0.4 seconds.
But here's the rub: It only takes time if it is a networked printer. Local, or PDF printers don't take any significant time.
Is this just me?

Real men don't use instructions. They are only the manufacturers opinion on how to put the thing together.

Luc Pattyn13-Sep-10 2:10

13-Sep-10 2:10

Hi Griff,

OriginalGriff wrote:
Is this just me?

You can breathe again, it is not just you.

In my experiments the line "PaperSize ps = pageSettings.PaperSize;" takes:
- 800 msec the very first time my app runs on Vista (and a dual-core)
- 280 msec later on (same app executing it again, or same app restarted)
- 300 msec the very first time my app runs on Win7 (different machine, comparable CPU power, well, actually a quad-core but I won't believe that is a factor)
- 130 msec later on

This once again proves complex dereferencing such as

Width = page.Document.DefaultPageSettings.PaperSize.Width;
Height = page.Document.DefaultPageSettings.PaperSize.Height;

is to be avoided. I suggest

PageSettings dps=page.Document.DefaultPageSettings;
Size pSize=dps.PaperSize;
Width=pSize.Width;
HeightpSize.Height;

That is the "one period per sentence" rule!

Smile | :)

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OriginalGriff13-Sep-10 3:58

OriginalGriff

13-Sep-10 3:58

Thanks Luc, I thought I was going slightly mad.
Now try it to a non-network printer and see those times drop like a stone!
I've done a bit more Googling, and it seems this is an old-but-known feature of XP / Vista

Luc Pattyn wrote:

PageSettings dps=page.Document.DefaultPageSettings;
Size pSize=dps.PaperSize;
Width=pSize.Width;
HeightpSize.Height;

This is the way I would normally write it - I don't trust compiler optimisers to spot commonality like that... Laugh | :laugh:

What I will actually do is cache the PaperSize info as part of my class and reload when the user changes the printer settings.
It was just such a silly result that I wanted to check I hadn't suddenly lost the plot - it is Monday, after all!

Real men don't use instructions. They are only the manufacturers opinion on how to put the thing together.

Luc Pattyn13-Sep-10 4:10

13-Sep-10 4:10

OriginalGriff wrote:
I don't trust compiler optimisers to spot commonality like that.

The compiler would have a hard time at optimizing this. While most properties are supposed to return the same value each time, the language spec does not enforce this. So your Document, DefaultPageSettings, and PaperSize need to be fetched each time, unless code analysis (or some attribute?) of said properties tells otherwise.

I'm not going to test a local printer, I only have the one (networked) printer in my current set-up.

Smile | :)

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Control in front of another one at all times

Bernhard Hiller13-Sep-10 2:43

Bernhard Hiller

13-Sep-10 2:43

I cannot find a significant difference between our HP Color LaserJet (net work) and Microsoft XPS Document Writer (local) on Windows 7. Re-running the program several times gets a list of quite variant results even for one type...

fdsfsa76f7sa612-Sep-10 22:19

12-Sep-10 22:19

Is there any way to keep control in front of another one at all times? I've been searching for quite a while and I've found nothing that really works. I've also tried with BringToFront method whenever the control beneath it gets focused and it doesn't really work as I want it to.

Thanks in advance!

#realJSOP13-Sep-10 0:16

#realJSOP

13-Sep-10 0:16

Change it's z-order.

.45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly
-----
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fdsfsa76f7sa613-Sep-10 0:48

13-Sep-10 0:48

Already tried, doesn't work, because as soon as user actives the control below, parts of it come in front.
I changed the z-order by writing

this.Controls.SetChildIndex(myControl, 0);

Do you know any other way?

#realJSOP13-Sep-10 4:58

#realJSOP

13-Sep-10 4:58

But does the control that's on top become obstructed by the control beneath it?

I've given it some though and I can't come up with a reason to do what you're doing. If you want to hide some controls based on conditions in the form, just hide 'em or disable 'em.

Luc Pattyn13-Sep-10 2:16

13-Sep-10 2:16

I doubt there will be a solution; anyway you probably didn't provide enough details here.

if the bottom control supports interaction, e.g. it is a TextBox and is enabled, then it not coming to the front would normally considered bad. So what is it that you want enabled and not topmost when activated?

Smile | :)

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fdsfsa76f7sa613-Sep-10 2:39

13-Sep-10 2:39

It's a Panel on top of ScrollableControl. I have painted a custom "toolbar" on my form (it's just a drawing, not a control), and I want to add shadow to it. To achieve a look as if drawings in ScrollableControl are going under the toolbar-drawing, I need to separate the shadow into a control and put over it. The shadow-panel is 2 pixels high, has transparent background and has 2 black lines with different alpha value painted on it. Adding the shadow to the ScrollableControl instead of to the form doesn't work, because vertical scrollbar gets over the shadow (gets focused) and I'd also have to keep the shadow steady on scrolling (every control you put inside ScrollableControl will get scrolled).

It's the least important thing, but I always like to add some eye-candy to my applications.

Luc Pattyn13-Sep-10 3:18

13-Sep-10 3:18

I'm not an eye candy specialist, however if memory serves, the way to go is by having your regular Control in the back, and a special transparent panel on top of that. You paint whatever it takes on the panel, and teach it to sit in front visually, while being invisible to all mouse operations, so it clicks through. I did something similar once, long ago, however I don't remember every detail.

Smile | :)

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fdsfsa76f7sa613-Sep-10 9:20

13-Sep-10 9:20

I know I'm asking a lot, but could you please try to write an example code how to keep a control in front visually and how to make it click-through-able?

Thanks in advance!

Luc Pattyn13-Sep-10 9:25

13-Sep-10 9:25

Sorry no, it was really long ago, and I don't want to go there again.

Smile | :)

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fdsfsa76f7sa613-Sep-10 10:56

13-Sep-10 10:56

I hope you can give me at least a hint in the right direction... Was it win32-like code or just overriding some functions? I'm more interested in how to keep a panel visually in front at all times. Thanks for the help.

Luc Pattyn13-Sep-10 11:20

how to list all the form name except mdi name

13-Sep-10 11:20

1. make sure the background control (ListBox, whatever) and the foreground control (Panel) both have the Form as their parent.
(If you were to use Visual Dersigner, and simply add the background control first, then a smaller foreground Control on top of it, it would be a child of the background, not of the form).
One way of doing that is: position it outside the background color, select it, goto properties, and type a new location value.

2. at run-time, never move the controls, never change their Z-order. Let them as they are.

3. in as much as the foreground control must be transparent (visually) and must ignore the mouse (click-through), do whatever that takes (Enabled=false; for starters).

Smile | :)

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Tridip Bhattacharjee12-Sep-10 22:10

Tridip Bhattacharjee

12-Sep-10 22:10

hi,

in my MDI application suppose i have combo on one of my child form and now i want to populate that combo with all the form name whether any form is closed or opened.how can i do this by c# code. i search Google but found nothing. please help me with code.

thanks

tbhattacharjee

Re: how to list all the form name except mdi name

Pete O'Hanlon12-Sep-10 22:15

Pete O'Hanlon

12-Sep-10 22:15

You'd need to use reflection to search through all the classes in your application, and check to see if it was a form or not. If it's a form, you can then retrieve the IsMdiContainer property and see if it's true or not - if it's true, then this is the MDI parent.

I have CDO, it's OCD with the letters in the right order; just as they ruddy well should be

Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads

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installing font programtically

mobasher12-Sep-10 21:34

mobasher

12-Sep-10 21:34

Hi there
i want to install some fonts; when i detect it is deleted. my code works fine on XP. but in win7 it is deleted immediately. i think it is beacause of UAC and use fileiopermission and demand with no lock. even i use right click run as administrator. so any suggestion is appreciated. sorry for my English.

Best wishes

Re: installing font programtically

Luc Pattyn13-Sep-10 2:21